Thursday, October 10, 2013

the skinny on our stash {Cloth Diapers: 6 weeks - 6 months} {Part 1}


When I decided to give cloth diapers a whirl & started adding to my stash last fall I got all the typical skeptical questions from family & friends. They all thought the money I spent ordering the colorful fluff would be a fleeting thought once the baby actually arrived. After defending my decision in the beginning I had a fire lit under me, thanks to my stubborn "prove-'em-wrong" streak. 
First Cloth Diaper

Guess what? I did prove them wrong & it wasn't even painful in doing so. (My college self is cringing at the next sentence.) We love our cloth diapers. They're easy. They're in-expensive compared to disposable diapers when you look at it in a long term picture. They're good for the environment. AND, drumroll please, seem to make our son's fanny happy! No diaper rash incidents here while wearing cloth. (Only once have we had a tiny rash & it was this summer at the beach while wearing disposables.) The whole family loves them, even the dog. (Yes, he had a few run ins with disposables and boy that was an image I'd rather never revisit. Dogs are gross sometimes. And the innards of a used 'sposie are pretty darn gross too. Especially on carpet. You get the picture.) 

Getting bigger every day.
"Normal" families use Cloth Diapers now a days. Not just the uber crunchy-shop-exclusively-at-Whole-Foods-and-drive-Subarus- type of families. Wait a minute, I now drive a Subaru Outback. Throw this stereotype out the window! (See also: who am I?)


{grab a cup of coffee, this is going to be a long one. no interest in CD's? go ahead & wait for the next installment of BitP. I found some of my favorite bloggers posts on their adventures in CDs so incredibly helpful, you should check them out too: Elefantitas Alegres & Oh! Apostrophe & In No Simple Language }



Upon lots of research, I decided on the following for our starter stash. I purchased most everything on special deals last Black Friday & End-Of-Year sales right after Christmas. 






- 1 Kawaii (Freebie)


All of our diapes are the one size pocket style, aside from the Freetimes, which are all-in-ones. I really like both kinds for different reasons. Pockets are nice because as our little guy has gotten bigger, I've been able to double the inserts for added absorbency. The all-in-ones are super easy, Dad loves them & always grabs first. I send these to Mom's Morning Out & they are our go-to nighttime diaper. 


Ford was just a little guy when he was born with pretty skinny legs so we opted to use newborn 'sposies until he gained a few lbs. I started with the Fuzzi Bunz when he was about 6 weeks old. The easy button adjusted elastic feature on both the back & legs was clutch. All my other diapers, despite saying were acceptable for his weight, were just too big for my long skinny guy. 2nd runner up for the super skinny stage was the Rump-a-Rooz. It adjusted pretty small & worked great.


As he grew & filled out a bit, my favorites to grab changed too. I'm now a huge fan of the Bum Genius options (FB's are still #2), and hope to add a few more to our stash soon. The only diaper that I have yet to really like is the Charlie Bananas. I thought these were going to be a favorite to grab but they just never have been. Any blow outs we've had (only had a couple and they all seem to be in the car seat or Target ironically) have been while he's wearing CBs. These are usually reserved for laundry day (which I do about every other day. But that is for a whole new post, excited right?)

Just a few more favorite things to add to your initial shopping list:

- 2 wet bags (to stash your used diapes on the go)

- a diaper pail & 2 reusable liners (we love our Ubbi. yes, I know the price seems super outlandish for a nursery trash can but it's so worth it. contains any stink & is dog-proof.)

- Cloth Diaper approved soap, we use Rockin' Green

- Bac Out (I've grown very fond of this hippy-dippy stain & funk remover for everything. It smells so fresh & so clean clean.)

- Cloth Wipes & Bum-Cleaner (we like California Baby. I've only used half a bottle in the time we've been diapering & spray on him, dry wipe off) if that's your jam. (I typically use the cloth wipes only at home with wet diapers. Easy-peasy roll up the wipes in the diapers & put in the pail. For #2 incidents & when I'm on the go, I use standard run-of-the-mill pampers wipes. I keep a stash of our cast-off plastic newspaper sleeves on the changing table for wipe-disposal. Stick your hand in the sleeve like a glove, pick up, invert the bag, tie off, & you're done without a mess. Do I get bonus points for creativity?)


Stay tuned for our next installment: Washing Routines & Roadblocks!


Pete helps stuff the diapers.


1 comment:

Victoria said...

Yay! I love the chance to hear about someone else's CD routine. I am tempted to write all our info in your comments since I don't really blog anymore. If you want a guest poster, I"m your girl. :) We're using a mix of BumGenius 4.0 and prefolds with Thirties covers. Daycare is ok with cloth and we send the BumGenius with him everyday. It's been ever easier than my gf's led me to believe ahead of time, and I really, scout's honor, don't feel like I do that much laundry. Haven't made the leap to cloth wipes yet, but I think about it frequently (I've been stocked up on wipes courtesy of my mom for the last several months, so trying to get through those). We have had a leak issue here and there, but we had leak issues here and there with disposables too, so whatever, I say! Love our cloth!!